PROTECT OUR CHILDREN. ASK THE MID-CONTINENT PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD FOR A CONTENT-RATING SYSTEM ON BOOKS FOR YOUTH.

The Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL) system loans out over 3 million books each year to area youth. An estimated 35,000 children ages 6-11 have active personal library cards. With over 30 branches in Clay, Platte and Jackson Counties, MCPL is visited by thousands of our children every day. Yet, there is no way for parents or children to know whether a book contains age-appropriate content or not.

Ask the MCPL Board to put a rating system in place to protect our children from age-inappropriate content such as graphic violence and LGTBQ+ sex education. As parents, we have the right to make informed decisions about what our children are reading; just as we do with a movie, music or video game. All of these other media forms have rating labels for content, why don’t books? It’s time for readers to be aware!

Your signature can make a difference! Please stand with other concerned parents and adults in your community. This petition will be presented to the MCPL Board and would directly affect Juvenile Easy [JE] - birth through 2nd grade readers, Juvenile [J] - 2nd through 6th grade readers, and Young Adult [YA ] - 6th through 12th grade readers.